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Northwest schools in the Canal Fulton/Clinton/New Franklin area has failed 10 times at the ballot. On the recommendation of an independent financial committee, it will try to pass a 1-percent earned income tax in the May primary. I write in today's Akron Beacon Journal about the efforts of Northwest, Stow-Munroe Falls and Springfield school districts to better engage their residents in tough decisions about raising taxes and making cuts. BTW, today is Northwest Community Pride Day with activities at the district bus garage (former Ford dealership at 2309 Locust Street South in Canal Fulton) from 1 to 3 pm) and student performances at Puffenberger Hall at Northwest High School from 3:30 to 5 pm. More information about school district income taxes after the jump.

Often when I'm searching on the Internet for a school district Web site, I come up with a bunch of Real Estate sites and aggregation sites that tell you the test scores and characteristics of a school district, but not how to actually go to the district's own Web site.

Yet opportunities for young children to learn math are often limited to memorizing the number words in sequence up to 20 and counting objects. Some teachers also encourage children to identify patterns or basic shapes in the environment, such as squares and circles. Similarly, opportunities to explore science concepts are provided occasionally but are rarely available on a daily basis or integrated into daily activities.

I'm posting this here to make these stories more searchable, but these links are all available under Special Projects to the right.

Akron Public Schools spent more than five years designing a $14.5 million math and science middle school where students would learn in ways dramatically different from traditional classrooms.Every detail of the new school, which opened in the fall of 2009 in a temporary location, was planned to grab and keep a student's interest by solving real-world problems and exploring the concepts underlying mathematical formulas rather than just memorizing them for a test.Years of planning, millions of tax dollars and the contributions of practically every significant public and private institution in Akron are riding on the effectiveness of these methods.What do they actually look like and feel like in the classroom?The Akron Beacon Journal, with the assistance of a fellowship from the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media, explored that question in a periodic series in 2009.The first group of stories is a 5-part narrative account of the school's first big project.The second group of stories, which ran in the summer of 2009, explores project-based learning from the point of view of students, teachers and parents.The third group of stories provides some background.

In a new national report out today from the Data Quality Campaign on how well states collect data to track student achievement from grade to grade all the way from early childhood through college, Ohio has developed 9 out of 10 "Essential Elements of a robust longitudinal data system." One more than Pennsylvania and Indiana, one less than Kentucky.

Like most states, however, Ohio doesn't have a data system that allows two-way communication between the K-12 system and the college/university system.

New York Times today has interesting story on making expensive college educations more relevant to actually getting, you know, a job. The story paints a gloomy picture for the future of philosophy and classics majors, but also notes that employers aren't demanding that college grads be career specialists.

Most parents know it's important to read to their children and many make it a bedtime ritual. But can we make math a daily ritual too? We do at our house -- just enough during breakfast to keep it fun for my kindergarten-age daughter. This proposal appeared in the Washington Post in November and bears repeating. See also this entry by the author on the Early Ed Watch blog.

The Ohio ACT State Organization and ACT on Tuesday recognized 35 Ohio high schools from which at least one student in the class of 2009 earned the maximum composite score on the ACT college admissions and placement exam.

Akron Public Schools and the teachers union have agreed to apply for federal stimulus money targeted at education reforms, a move that could bring millions of dollars to the Akron district over the next four years.

Voters in only two area school districts will have a reason to go to the polls next month. The Nordonia Hills and Streetsboro districts are asking voters to approve additional property taxes for operations Feb. 2.